Seòmar agus comataidhean

I believe that Jackie Galbraith would like to come in.

I will bring Paul O’Kane back in, but we have run over our time, so please be as clear and concise as possible.

Good morning, and welcome to the 15th meeting in 2023 of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee. We have received apologies from Miles Briggs.

Our first item of business is a decision on taking business in private. Do members agree to take agenda items 3 and 4 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Our next agenda item is an evidence-taking session to inform our inquiry into addressing child poverty through parental employment. The inquiry is looking at how the Scottish Government is working with local authorities, employers and other partners at a local level to tackle child poverty through improving employability.

This will be our second panel on the theme of affordable and flexible childcare, with the focus of this session on service delivery. I welcome to the meeting Susan McGhee, chief executive of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland, and Rami Okasha, chief executive of Children’s Hospices Across Scotland, both of whom are joining us in the committee room. We are also joined remotely by Kirsty Ramage, project leader at the Bellsbank Project, and Beverley Isdale, chief executive of First 4 Kids. Good morning to the witnesses and thank you for joining us.

Before we start, I want to mention a few points about the format of the meeting. We have allocated roughly an hour and 15 minutes for questions. I should say to the virtual witnesses and members that, before speaking, they should wait until I—or the member who is asking the question—say their name to give our broadcasting colleagues a few seconds to turn their microphone on. Anyone who wishes to come in on a question can indicate as much with an R in the dialogue box in BlueJeans.

Please do not feel that you have to answer every question. If you have nothing new to add to what has been said by others, that is okay. We have a lot to cover this morning, so I ask everyone to keep their questions, answers and follow-up questions tight. Colleagues who are in the room should indicate to me or the clerk if they wish to come in or to ask a supplementary question. Members who are joining us online should use the chat box or WhatsApp to do so.

As agreed at our pre-briefing, I will invite members to ask questions in turn. For our first theme, which is flexible childcare, I call James Dornan, who is joining us remotely.

Has Susan McGhee come across that?

Yes.

I am sorry, Kirsty—you are breaking up again. Have you tried switching your camera off?

Kirsty Ramage would like to come in.

Kirsty, can you hear us okay?

In that case, I move on to Jeremy Balfour, who will ask questions on theme 3, and then we will come back to Katy Clark.

Kirsty, we seem to have lost your connection. You might want to try to come back in. I do not think that Kirsty can hear me. We seem to be having some technical problems.